It’s a… GIRL!
We had our 20 week ultrasound yesterday, and Baby G looks healthy and right on track as far as development goes. She was wiggling around too much to get a few of the pictures they wanted, so we have to go back in a few weeks…darn, we get to see our baby again!
It still feels a little surreal. Everyone was convinced we were having a boy (and had convinced me of the same), so we were especially surprised to hear that we’re having a girl. But I spent most of yesterday excitedly exclaiming “There’s a girl in there!” to the dog and “You’re going to be a sweet baby girl!” to the bump, so I think the news has finally sunk in.
To celebrate the Baby-G-is-healthy, we-can-stop-saying-‘he-or-she’-whenever-we-refer-to-HER good news, we’re celebrating with some pumpkin butter-stuffed sticky buns this weekend. We may or may not have celebrated with these last night in a breakfast-for-dinner situation, too. Hey, it’s exciting news worthy of many pumpkin spiced pastries!
These were originally going to be plain old pumpkin butter cinnamon rolls. But I’m all about the texture lately, and really wanted to include some crunchy, caramel-y nuts, so I transformed them into sticky buns. Really, there isn’t much difference between the two, except one is covered with icing and the other with a sticky pecan topping.
Let the weekend brunch planning begin!
These pumpkin pecan sticky rolls are a little time consuming, but you can do most of the work the night before your next autumnal brunch!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup warm milk
- 2 teaspoons dry active yeast
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 2/3 cups pumpkin butter
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 cups chopped pecans
Instructions
- Stir the warm milk with the yeast and allow to sit for 3-4 minutes, or until the yeast is bubbly.
- Add 1/2 cup of the flour, the eggs, sugar, vanilla, salt and cinnamon. Stir until just combined.
- Add the rest of the flour and knead for 3-4 minutes. You can do this by hand or with a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook.
- Cut the butter into 5-6 pieces and add to the dough. Knead for an additional 5 minutes.
- Cover the bowl loosely with a tea towel or plastic wrap and allow to rise for about 1 hour, or until nearly doubled in size.
- Punch down the dough and knead it a few times. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. The dough will be fine in the refrigerator overnight, so feel free to take the rolls to this step the night before your brunch.
- Roll the dough into a 12" x 15" rectangle. Spread the dough with the pumpkin butter in a thin, even layer.
- Starting with a long edge, roll the dough up as tightly as you can. Slice the rolls into 8 even pieces, and allow to rise for 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Stir the brown sugar, butter, honey and nutmeg for the topping together in an 8" or 10" oven-proof skillet. Cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, or until it is bubbly and a shade or two darker in color.
- Stir in the pecans.
- Place the rolls in the skillet, cut-side down. Start from the middle and work your way out towards the edge of the skillet. They shouldn't fill the pan entirely yet, as they will expand and rise as they cook.
- Bake at 350°F for 25-30 minutes, or until the buns are golden and the topping is bubbly. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving, pecan-side up.
Oh goodness, yes. I’ll take that entire pan! And super congrats on the girl! There’s nothing like them! <3
These were gone SO fast! And thank you! 🙂
Aww. That’s awesome that you’re having a little girl! And great news that she’s healthy. 🙂
The buns look so, so good. I’ve never tried pumpkin butter. Looking up recipes right now!
Pumpkin butter is super easy to make- if you’ve ever made apple butter, it is the same concept, just with pumpkin puree instead of apple!
Yay for baby girl!! Congrats! These buns look killer!
Thanks!
Congratulations – very exciting.
The sticky buns look absolutely fantastic! Yum!
Thank you!
Congratulations! Those look amazing! I love that you can make them ahead of time. Thanks for sharing!
Making them in advance definitely comes in handy – especially for day-after-Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year’s Eve/etc brunches!
Congrats on the baby girl!!! And what better way to celebrate than with these pumpkin sticky buns! I so want to make this next time I host a Sunday brunch!
Hope you enjoy them!
How very exciting to be having a baby girl! We never had girls. Two boys for us (and that was a long time ago).
I’m very excited for you and know your daughter will be very lucky in the food department when she’s old enough to help her mommy in the kitchen. These pumpkin pecan stick buns looks amazingly delicious!!!
We came across adorable kid-sized aprons when we were out running errands the other day – it reminded me that she will get to cook with me someday!
Oh god these sticky buns look delicious. I definitely would recreate the recipe but sticky buns are my weak spot and I think I would devour these dangerously too quickly. Great recipe.. you definitely have got me hungry right now!
That’s why you make them when you are having people over- then you are forced to share. 😉
Congrats on your new baby girl! These buns look like ooey-gooey sticky deliciousness.
Thank you!
I need to surprise my family by making an impressive recipe like this! Thanks!
Do it and enjoy! 🙂
Yayyyyy!!! Congrats!! So exciting. These pumpkin pecan sticky buns look incredible….and a perfect way to celebrate finding out!
Thank you. We are very excited!
congrats! I never found out the sex of my kids. I wanted to in the worst way, but my husband was set against it, so I agreed not to. It must be so exciting to be able to plan things ahead. And these buns, oh these buns are a cause for celebration on their own!
We figure we have enough surprises ahead as it is, so we wanted to find out. Lots of our friends haven’t, though!
I could go for a plate of these tomorrow morning!
They are pretty tasty!
Congrats. Girls are a riot. I spend a ton of time with my daughter, she’s my best friend. It’s sort of a cool thing.
And look at these buns. I could eat every last one of them.
Thanks so much!
Congratulations!!!
oh and ps. I NEED these sticky buns!!
Thank you!
Congratulations!!! These sticky buns….oh boy. I can’t wait to make them, I will eat the entire thing myself!
Thanks so much. And yes- it would be far too easy to eat an entire pan of these!
Congrats!!!! Having my daughter was the best thing in my life! you are going to love having a little mini-me! 🙂
Thank you!!